System Seven (61 page)

The sounds of shuffling
feet echoed in the hallways.

Don’t wait...

He rose to the high
corner of the glass wall and released a barrage of intention. Shards of glass
broke away from the wall in a sudden stream, ricocheting off the ceiling and
falling to the floor. A rough indentation formed in the wall and became wider and
deeper as he kept up the effort.

“No, Austin. Stop
that.” The voice echoed in the halls. “Stop or we’ll be forced to open fire.”

Troops began to file
in again, rifles trained on him. He lashed out, crushing them to the floor. For
the next several seconds, he alternated between drilling and killing, pacing
himself until the first light poured from a small hole. The bodies lay in
stacks by the time he bore the hole open enough to enter.

A control room full of
people stared up at him in alarm. Clear glass walls separated additional
control rooms situated in a wide circle around a central black glass core. A
rapt audience of dozens faced him.

A uniformed man stood.
His was the face behind the voice.

“Alright, last chance,
Austin. Things do not have to get worse. The chaos on the surface can be
quelled with your cooperation. Join us to draft the solution or die here and
now. Be someone who makes a difference or someone who fails. It’s your call.”

It didn’t take meta to
see they’d been caught unprepared.

Good.

He surged towards the
black glass core.

• • •

On the fifth floor in
a closed wing of the Volgograd State Medical University in southwest Russia,
four men and two women lay asleep in beds connected to IVs and EKG-type
monitors. The room’s blackout curtains kept it dim.

A door opened and a
nurse pushed a cart into the room. If the patients had been awake, they would
have realized she was a full ten minutes early for the changing of their IVs.
She visited each bed. Upon each patient’s throat she placed what appeared to be
a square of pastry.

When done, she opened
the curtains. Afternoon light poured in. For long moments she stared out the
window at the busy thoroughfare, at the bustle of everyday life. As if called
by name, she turned to face the row of beds.

“I am ready with Team
Two.”

She sat then, in a
chair beneath the window, and waited.

• • •

Bastion leaned on the
glass panel, ignoring strained requests from the others to move the lounge
towards safety. His fingers hovered over two colored areas, one green, one
orange.

“Hurry, Xuet!”

Austin approached, a
floating specter belonging in the dream mesh rather than here. Even Ganzai
stepped back.

The orange button
turned to green.

“Sorry, Tomov.” He
touched the panel to activate the field.

Overseer’s synth voice
announced activation. “
Containment complete
.”

“In theory,” Nora said
as she joined the others in returning to the window.

Austin’s expression
changed. He cast about and found the invisible edges with growing panic.

Bastion regained
composure. “See, it’s done.”

The field had been
defined to encompass the directors’ conference room, not the control room Austin
had bored into. Xuet successfully relocated the field just in time.
Unfortunately, Director Tomov and his crew were stuck inside its boundaries and
might be the first casualties of Austin’s desperation. He opened a channel to
the room.

“Austin, you’ll be
held until you calm down. You don’t trust us and that’s understandable. The
gaps in your knowledge of the truth are severe but not insurmountable. There is
someone whom I think is best suited to help fill you in. Someone you know and
can trust.”

The black glass turned
transparent. A wave of surprise rose from the control rooms. Apparently the
Council did not reveal itself to anyone.

“Austin, I believe you
recognize this man?”

• • •

Austin flew to within
feet of the glass and pressed a hand to the field.

His dad stood behind
the glass in a white uniform.

It couldn’t be him.

No. They’d taken over
his body. Subjugated him.

That wasn’t his dad.
He
was long gone.

“Son, I know this is a
shock but it’s incredibly important that you listen to me. Really listen. Don’t
act, don’t react. Just listen.”

It was exactly what he
would say. His mannerisms, too, were familiar. His presence filled his senses.

He blinked away tears
that wanted to form. It had been a possibility, but seeing him now forced a
painful reality. He fought to keep a mission perspective. The man next to his
dad had to be Bastion. Beyond them, Cathbad sat propped in a chair as if dead
or asleep. He counted two guards which left the remaining eleven as the
Council.

“Austin, nothing I can
say in the next few minutes will justify the nukes in your mind but there is a
larger narrative at work that goes far beyond your current understanding. Trust
me on that for now. What you have accomplished so far in the service of the Runa
Korda is amazing. It’s astounding and I’m proud of your choices
knowing what you know.
But it is
absolutely imperative that you stand down long enough to hear the entire truth.
You’ve only been given parts of it and have been steered according to a specific
agenda.”

“And you haven’t?” He
forced a laugh and turned away from the glass, unable to handle the conflicting
thoughts. Why hadn’t he reached out to him? Why hadn’t he shared more earlier?
How could anything truly justify killing hundreds of thousands of people? Or
making the world the mess it was? More than anything he wanted his dad to be
acting under duress, not as a spokesperson for the Comannda. If not that, then
he wanted him to be an imposter, an agent. Not his father.

He turned and stabbed
a finger at Bastion. “You shot my friend down when you thought it was me. You
weren’t able to capture me so you went for the kill. Now you’ve got me and for
what? Brainwashing? Forget it. Playing gods and making the world the way it is
will never be okay, no matter how comfortable a life you offer me. And I’ll be
damned if I’m going to let you study me. I will not become a template for a
human weapon factory.”

“Austin,” his father
began. “You’ve been–”

“Just shut up. Who you
were to me was based on a lie. You are not human now, if you ever were. You are
Comannda. That’s your choice, your problem. Not mine.”

He turned away as if
to reinforce the disconnection. A gap of some twenty feet separated him and the
floor director. Four others remained seated and watched without fear.

He lifted the director
clear into the air and positioned him so they were face to face. Speaking low,
he said, “Director, I’m going to bust out of this bubble or die trying. I
promise you that if it’s the latter, you’re coming with me. Now, how do I
disable it?”

“The field?” He shook
his head. “You can’t. Your best bet is to calm down and talk with us.
Seriously. Get the whole picture.”

He tightened his grip.
“They’ll let you die. Help me and I’ll see that you live.”

“I’ll live in any case
and you know it. I’m just afraid you’re going to screw up my leave. I’ve
already had to reschedule my island trip thanks to the Miami incident.”

The remark set him
back in amazement. The director saw it.

“Look,” he said.
“You’re something special. You know it, everybody does. But you’ve been
flogging around, pissing off management. You want to make a difference? Stop
being a tool. Open your mind. Pay attention to what you’re going to hear. You
don’t know the larger truths. They matter. The world is a much different place
than what you’ve been programmed to believe. Judge and decide after you know
more.”

Austin shook his head
and put the man down. “You’re just fucking sick. What larger truth justifies
nuking entire cities? Or keeping a planet suffering for thousands of years?
What can you possibly tell me to justify any of that?”

Director Tomov put his
hands up in defense. “The nukes, I can’t speak to. I hate the idea, personally.
I’ve got friends who’d get sent on. Too many beautiful places would be ruined
for a long time. Keeping people in the dark, that’s another story. Without our
efforts, without containment, mankind would descend into madness in just a few
generations. Civilizations would crumble. They’re just too primitive, still.
Too close to being animals. If you listen and learn, you’ll know it’s true. Not
everyone is made like you and I. Humanity needs the framework they exist in
right now. The Korda are dangerous and their leaders know just how much so and
why.”

Austin felt a glitch,
a change of indistinct origin. He pressed outward but the field held tight.
Listening to the director was maddening – both for the disgust and the interest
it generated. How much bullshit and how much truth? Were Edward and Sean
ignorant of bigger truths? How would civilization behave given access to the
experience of shared consciousness? Would it truly be destructive? Had Cathbad
played him? The Comannda wanted him to believe so. Still, nothing justified
keeping people diseased and dying from cancers and hunger. Nothing.

He lowered himself to
the floor and raised potential. He walked over to a young woman at a console.
All eyes followed.

“What’s your name?”

“Log448.” At his look,
she corrected, “Logistics 448.”

“Your name, girl. Your
name
.”

She looked down and
then briefly at the director. “Nadine.”

“How long have you
been working for these people, Nadine?”

“All my life.” Again
his look prompted her. “Since July 2nd, 1923.”

Bastion cut in. “Austin,
I’d like to focus on–”

“I don’t give a shit
what you’d like, Bastion.”

Nadine screamed then,
a brief but intense burst before she fell from her chair to the floor. Blood
flowed from her ears and nose.

“What the fuck–”

The other three also
cried out before falling over, lifeless. Director Tomov shook his head.

Bastion’s voice took on
new emotion. “This is not the time for power plays, Austin, nor for prolonged
negotiation. You say you are a truth seeker, but the truth can only be found if
you open your mind here and now. What the Korda has shown you is a version of
reality, their version. Filtered, redacted to suit their needs. Cathbad is
awake now and is wisely prepared to speak the truth. If you can’t accept it, if
you refuse to understand, then you will be destroyed.”

Austin rose into the
air to peer into the glass.

Bastion helped the old
druid to his feet and spoke to him briefly before returning to the window with
him. Cathbad’s look was weary. His voice filled the room, familiar but
strained.

“Austin. It’s true. I
withheld information from you. The Comannda in charge today are not the same as
those that started the repression back then. The truth is, we have more in
common with them than I wanted you to know.”

“Nice try, Bastion. A
sock puppet would have been more convincing.”

Cathbad’s hand went
up. “No Austin, don’t discount me. If I sound a puppet it’s because I had so
completely held your trust before while I lied.” He began to slowly pace along
the window, gesturing as he spoke. “I led a campaign to achieve goals that in
the final analysis are the same as theirs. Why? Because I don’t agree with
their methods. You suspected it. I steered you from it as I have all the rest.
There is much more but it’s not important now. They have the upper hand. The
Conflict is over. It was never meant to be.”

“Bastion, this is a
crock of shit and you know it. I may be new but–”

Cathbad held up a hand
again to emphasize. “
No
, son. Set
aside your bluster and feel the trackways. They will lead you to the truth.” He
stopped near one of the Council women. “Listen to what your father has to say.
Work with him. Be prepared to help lead the change that lies ahead. The moment
for that is very close, now. With your help, it can be achieved.”

Floating above the
control room, he was struck by the surreality of everything. Once again he felt
split, but not just down the middle. Now he was split into jagged pieces,
weighted by realities that could be, might be, once were, and maybe never were.
He fought the rise of panic. There had to be a message within Cathbad’s
message. Was there one?

“What about J86 and all
the nukes? And the wars and disease? What exactly is the goal, Cathbad? How is
humanity supposed to evolve under these conditions?”

“All good questions.”
The old druid paced towards Bastion again. “There are truths that extend far
beyond your current references. You cannot imagine what makes up life and what
happens beyond it. Give your father and I time to bring you up to speed, with
the truth. Only then will it make sense.”

“Bullshit. I don’t
believe this.”